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Mar 2, 2012

Friday, March 2, 2012, Frank Virzi

Theme: HAM ON RYE, this puzzle cuts the mustard. Click here to see the gimmick. For all of you who do not like cross referential cluing, this puzzle was not kosher, as the letters HAM are hidden in each of three theme answers, and RYE are hidden in three answers physically directly below. The reveal hint coming so early made all the difference for me, as I had no clue until I saw the first two long answers and went back and forth looking for a common element and the HAM popped pot. Then I realized looking for the Catcher in the RYE. Like last week, our theme answers come in pairs. This was my third straight puzzle from a constructor we have not seen for a year, and coincidentally the one who create the previous TV show TITLE PUZZLE; let us begin. Another combination of words and pictures

17A. Source of mints, at times: CHAMBER MAID. This is really cute and I had to wait until the down were down.20A. 7-Across destination, eventually: DRYER. What if you like to hang the laundry outside in the fresh air?

They line up, so the HAM is on the RYE.

39A. It prohibits illegal search and seizure: FOURTH AMENDMENT. This was a gimme for me, and gave me the theme, as the run on word is a staple in crostic such as those featured in the Sunday London Times, and some Sunday NY Times Magazines.41A. The recent past: YESTERYEAR. Am I the only one who thinks of the Lone Ranger?

60A. Subject of a 1922 archaeological discovery: TUTANKHAMUN.64A. Some chickens: FRYERS. I wonder if they know when they are growing up what they are?

19A. With "on" and 59-Across, a hint to the theme hidden in three places in this puzzle: HAM. 59A. See 19-Across: RYE.

Notice HAM and RYE are symmetrically placed?

On to the show:

ACROSS:

1. Stands: ABIDES. Many of you do not abide by these type of puzzles.

7. Load in a basket: WASH. Some of you may be more familiar with the term laundry.

11. Label: TAG.

14. Busts: BOSOMS. Well okay, let us get right to the heart of the matter. Dennis, for your examination...NIPPLEGATE (1:05)

15. Potent introduction?: OMNIpotent. A powerful clue.

16. Nabokov novel : ADA. An interesting but shocking BOOK, from the author of dear LO-li-ta (hello) Jeannie, written when he was almost 70.

21. New York City's __ River: EAST. The rivers are why Manhattan is an island; can you name them all?

22. Chowderhead: DOPE. I think Mr. V. is from Massachusetts, so we get some chow-dah.

23. They often accompany stretches: YAWNS. I was looking for something tricky to do with jail time.

25. "I Loves You, Porgy" and others: DUETS. There are so many versions, but none netter than BILLIE (2:46). You like the cross with25D. Pair: DUAD. Okay a Friday word, never heard of it. Also from Greek, meaning two, just like DUET.

53. Dance with flowing gestures: HULA. Two weeks in a row, you coming back to visit K-man?

55. Distance: WAYS. Well we have have come quite a ways, until...

56. "__ a man with seven wives": I MET. An old nursery rhyme riddle. I miss CA.

As I was going to St Ives

I met a man with seven wives

Every wife had seven sacks

Every sack had seven cats

Every cat had seven kits

Kits, cats, sacks, wives

How many were going to St Ives.

57. Forearm exercise: CURL. Eh, more for the biceps.

58. Start of Massachusetts's motto: ENSE. My final piece of evidence your honor for my case that Mr. Virzi if from the Commonwealth. We had the clue recently: "Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem." (Latin) By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty.

60. Medicine amt.: TSP. of sugar makes the medicine go down.

61. "Original, crispy or grilled?" co.: KFC. Kentucky Fried Chicken. My only one of the day; not Kentucky's Fat Colonel. I love their coleslaw, and delivered for them many moons ago.

Wowee kazowie: Another Friday puzzle in the record books; mostly pretty easy, but then when I blog I do not time myself as I stop and get links as I solve, so who really knows. Enjoy the week end all, and I hope Hank is okay Mainiac, and you as well Creature and all the rest of the wounded warriors in our troop. Lemonade, over and out see you all laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaatttttter.

77 comments:

This one definitely gets a solid "meh" from me, I'm afraid. I guess I would have liked it better had the theme reveal simply been HAM ON RYE with a sandwich clue rather than splitting up HAM and RYE and having an obnoxious cross reference as the only clue.

Surprisingly, I got UTO easily because I just finished reading a novel ("Devil Colony" by James Rollins) that mentioned the UTO-Aztecan languages frequently. Go figure. ENSE, on the other hand, was not in my wheelhouse despite the fact that I am from Massachusetts. Ditto for CRUS.

MOTHRA was another gimme, since I love Godzilla movies.

Had a lot of trouble spelling TUTANKHAMUN. In fact, even my spell checker thinks it should be spelled TUTANKHAMEN.

Ended up with a wrong answer because of the crossing of DAYNE and ADORE. I'm not familiar with the singer, and AMORE seemed perfectly fine (as did MAYNE).

Fun write-up and links, Lemony. Funny enough, the ad that popped up when I clicked the “I loves you, Porgy” link was for Tide – “Reinventing Laundry”!! How did they know that today was WASH day in our puzzle, with clothes headed for the DRYER?

I would have fallen into the same trap as Barry, except that there was no hint that the “love” would be in Italian. So I went with ADORE. (Whew, dodged that bullet!)

But then there were all those non-word prefixes and suffixes: OMNI-, UTO-, ARTHRO-, -EME and –STER.

On the other hand, I really did like the theme. Stacking of the DUADs of HAM and RYE took a lot of imagination, so hats off to Mr. Virzi!

Sort of easy Friday entry though not a speed run by any means and the reference to frying chickens and KFC did not help. I also noticed that there was a lot of french in this Puzzle (hmmm french fries)thank god my French expert had not left for work when I was solving. There were a lot of easy clues so I did not notice the theme. Like Barry my brain wanted to spell TUT*** with an E not a U. . Well Ham on Rye is a nice sandwhich but I prefer Pastrami. TGIF all and enjoy your fried fish friday. Thankyou Lemonade for the super write up and to Frank for this friday eye opener.

I didn't think this one was as easy as some of you have been implying. The NE almost did me in today. I got the theme before I got either HAM or RYE. That finally allowed me to sneak up on TAHOE and DAYNE.

I got beat by this one today. Had ArIsES for 1A and the noted AmORE for 46A. I saw the HAM's after solving, but did not see the RYE's. That revelation raised my opinion of the puzzle tenfold. Tough construction and well executed.

Thanks for the thoughts yesterday, all, and for the SqDance call late last night YR. I'm happy to say I'm not experiencing all those symptoms, but every muscle in my body hurts. It even hurts my hands to pick up something no matter how light. That interferes with 12 oz curls, and that's not a good thing. I've not had the flu since the '60s when I had the Hong Kong version. IIRC, that was worse, but this ain't exactly a walk in the park.

As easy and "meh" as you all think the puzzle was, especially for a Friday, it couldn't have been easy for the constructor to stack those HAMs and RYEs directly over each other in such long theme entries. Kudos to him!

Wow - this was my easiest Friday CWP in a long time. I think the long answers helped speed things up. Interestingly, I caught the HAM in the long clues, but totally missed the RYE. I guess I'll stick to ham on whole wheat.

My only hang ups were EBRO and CRUS. I thought DUAD was odd, but PERPS lead me to it.

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Frank Virzi, for a great Friday puzzle. Thank you, Mr. Lemonade, for the great review.

Got started easily with this in the NW. Worked across and down just like enjoy. Got held up in the NE for a while. I wanted TAHOE, but I always wait until I get a couple crosswords. I used to drive Route 395 about every month as I worked all up and down the Sierra Nevada Range. Spent some time in Stateline, NV, going up and down the Kingsbury Grade. Beautiful country.

CHAMBERMAID came easily. As did FOURTH AMENDMENT and YESTERYEAR. AS did TUTANKHAMUN. Was not sure of the spelling of that Egyptian, but KFC fixed that.

HAM on RYE appeared. I looked for the theme and it appeared as well. Pretty easy Friday.

As usual for me the french words came with perps. Did not know ONZE and CRUS.

Theme came at the end and was a real AHA moment! Cross referencing just adds a fun element for me. Wonderful job Frank!Musings-Clotheslines are verboten in our development-YESTERYEAR and The William Tell Overture – Hi Ho Silver!-I Saw Her Standing There is my fav! Both for the song and the time when I loved it. The Beatle cover group I like always ends their show with it!-I SUB but am no HERO-It would have cost me 652 yen to get into the state tournament game yesterday. Home team got drilled by Omaha Central!-I taught the BOHR atom for years-Emma wants to go to SMITH like her aunt-They play JENGA on Big Bang Theory-A broom and a dust mop don’t seem interchangeable to me-Grandson gave up soda for LENT and so I got him a slushie at the game-Sorry to hear you’re sick Joe. I’m in Lincoln, maybe I can run some chicken soup down to you! It couldn’t hurt!

I got stuck in the SE corner due to interference of my Sydney background. I couldn't think of CASTLE, because of Balmoral Beach at home in Oz. It didn't help that CURL is unknown to me, and I had TUTANKHAMEN, and had no idea of the Mass. motto or MOTHRA (hate horror movies, even those). I also got caught on MAYNE/AMORE.

Much of the rest was WAGS and perp help. I thought HAM ON RYE meant I was to look for different sandwiches, so found HERO but couldn't be bothered looking further. OK for a Friday I guess.

Lemoade, thanks for the informative write up. I liked the stacking of HAM on RYE. I messed up AMMORE/MAYNE and ADORE/DAYNE. AMORE seemed so good, I did not look for another choice, BOO! Hiss! for me.

I am an inveterate reader of everything, including cereal boxes and wine labels. I read the wine labels in the store and on the table. This habit gave me CRU. I have seen it often, usually in the store because I choose less expensive wines mostly.

Fun puzzle today. Definitely not WBS. I saw right away that there were multiple possibilities for 1a so I skipped to the top center and NE and worked out from there. My first thought on the cross-referenced clues was 'on the lam' but a few perps quickly brought out HAM on RYE.

I wasn't sure of the spelling of TUTANK-watz-is-name, but perps filled it

What did I give up for Lent? My few remaining New Year's Resolutions, of course.

I am keeping a reading journal of words whose meanings I can glean from context so that I will remember them in isolation for x-words. It helps tremendously.

I was a CHAMBERMAID at a resort during the college years when I ushered (ushed?) at Summer Theater. I never hear CHAMBERMAID anymore. It seems so old fashioned.

HG, we are not allowed to have clotheslines here, either. I placed a tension shower rod over the center of the tub long ways so I can drip dry some items. This is not convenient for very large items, but works well for everything else.

Good morning to all and happy Friday. Always adore your write-ups Lemon. Fun Fri.finished with no help and only one smudge at eme.Easy fix when I got to amendment. Hope everyone is ok in the severe storms path today. I think I'll go have a ham on rye with swiss and spicy mustard. Have a great day to all. RJW.

Also, didn't kmow this HANSEN. Think UTO, ENSE and ONZE are c--p words. Why not German for 11 = ELF? Why is everyone expected to know French and not German? Italian is undici, so I don't expect to see that, but German words are short.

On Smith College - one of the 7 sisters. ALmost every "girls'" school has gone coed, mostly to get more alum money. I graduated from Skidmore and attemded Russell Sage, both 2nd tier (as opposed to 7 sister) and both coed now. I felt the arrangement gave one more opportunities to lead, since guys often take over; and, dating Dartmouth, RPI, Williams, etc. was more exciting.

I too fell into the AmORE/mAYNE trap for a technical DNF. Hate when that happens for one measly letter. Also, saw the HAMs, but didn't realize the RYEs until I came here.

Also had trouble with DUAD. Wanted DyAD, common crosswordese meaning the same thing. FWIW, the Free Dictionary defines it as, "a rare word for pair". Nevertheless, GyS would be a strange first name while I think I've heard of GUS Hansen.

I thought todays puzzle was relatively easy, but there was still a workout. Never did see the RYE embedded in the lower answers. Knowing HAM did help. Could not think of MOTHRA, had to look that up. I too spelled TUTANKHAMUN wrong. Originally thought HOTELPILLOW for mint source, but perps soon changed that. NW corner was the hardest part, but little by little, got it filled in. I enjoyed Lemons write up too.

Gah. Everything was fairly easy except 26A/24D/28D. Don't watch much broadcast TV so no idea who/what House is all about, don't speak French or drink wine and I immediately penned in "anthro" for 24D (Anthropod: bipedal humanoid).

Incredibly clever puzzle, I thought--many thanks, Frank! I got the HAM and the RYE separately first, but when I realized the HAM was on the RYE, it blew my mind! Brilliant symmetry! And a great write-up, as always, Lemon.

Reading the blog this morning was a great relief because I felt so stupid over the AMORE/ADORE mix-up, and it helps to know this was a common problem. Like Rube 10:52 I also put DYAD instead of DUAD. Still, this was a great way to begin a Friday!

Lent, hmm? Think I'll go the other way, not with sacrifices but with extra charity.

I liked the HAM ON RYE themes.Noticed the placement of the HAM being directly OVER(ON) the RYE right off the bat.

I liked how FRYERS crossed KFC.I liked how Frank clued the ABCD run.I liked how I had to "work my perps" to get my unknowns; DAYNE, DUAD, CRUS and a few others.I even liked how DUST-MOP reminded me of the Westminister winning Pekingese. Ugh!

Grumpy 1: I'm with you.Definitely NOT What-Barry-Said (WBS).

How a solver rates an ENTIRE puzzle as "meh" for the reason given is unconscionable.

Sorry, but I find THAT to be obnoxious!It is insulting to the Constructor.

I think the beauty of this puzzle is the skill involved in crafting the HAM/RYE fill, which is an extremely challenging feet. If you do not appreciate that skill, you would not appreciate the puzzle. It is one case where a theme and its presentation are the heart of a presentation.

I think Weds. was the hardest this week, but this one was the most enjoyable. I agree that the art of stacking the theme was impressive, but I finished the puzzle so fast I never saw HAM over RYE until I read Lemonade's post.

Ms Dayne was an unknown, and after about 30 seconds of the link will remain that way, but ADORE seemed a better fit, so that wasn't a problem.

Balmoral is a castle, so I looked for another attraction. I remember seeing some of the shaggy scottish caTtle on the grounds. Oops: FRIER and WAIT seemed to work.

Very ambitious theme, and well executed. This is one of those puzzles I enjoy more in retrospect than while working it. There are certainly things in it I don't like, but I'm not going to dwell on them.

Ordinarily I object to those cross-referential clues that give no information, but in this particular instance, the end justifies the means.

I didn't think it was easy at all - moved all around looking for a foothold. Couldn't remember which AMENDMENT was right, and always want to spell it with 2 M's, anyway. Went for the perps and neglected to fill in AMENDMENT (DO'H!), so the whole mid-section was a lot harder than it needed to be.

WEll done, Lemon - and thank's for the Bessie Smith link. She was special, and I love that song.

Hand up for The Lone Ranger. And AMORE/MAYNE.

I must be vertically challenged. I make inexplicable spelling errors in the down fill.

I don't understand how one could "solve" this puzzle and not see ham on rye! The gimmick is clearly pointed out for us in the 19a/59a clues. Why would you bother with a themed puzzle and not look for a theme? For me, its half the fun. Learning moments being another half. Personal challenge is the remaining half.

Hondo,Thanks for the details on Smith. I guess I've never had occasion to research out-of-state universities here, since we never could have afforded private colleges for our sons, and of course didn't have daughters to research for. Besides, with the UW- Madison just down the road from here, why would we want to?

Lucina,You are too kind. Thanks for your high praise. Strangely enough, I was caught by surprise today with the CRU answer for French vineyards. I didn't know the word as a noun, only as an adjective meaning RAW. But on looking it up, sure enough, le cru is growth, cultivation, especially of wine.

41 years ago, when I was first with my future husband in Spain, he had to ask directions since I didn't know Spanish, but he was bemused that I always figured out what they answered before he did, because of my knowledge of French and Latin.

Sfingi,ELF happens to be one of German's shortest words. Their love of linking into one word compounds that we would use separately in English, or at most, hyphenate, gives them the reputation for having too many long words.

Phew! i have some more time now, sorry i didn't get to savor this one!

JzB@1:43, i don't know how it happened, but one second i was listening to Bessie Smith, and then a youtube sidebar caught my eye, Duane Allman, then another sidebar, Dickie Betts & son giving lessons on how to play Elizabeth Reed,,, Oh Man i am gonna be gone for hours...

I just came back to say thanks, and throw this at ya,,, but i think this is the trueHam on Rye.

I'm with Barry G and others on the AMORE/MAYNE issue. I hate excessive names--you either know them, or you don't. The worst thing is when two names cross, and you don't know either. This cross of an unfamiliar name and the reasonable AMORE is almost as annoying.

Well, there's usually something to annoy everyone, & I don't mean to be so negative. Not too bad a puzzle, all-in-all.

Premier crus or grand crus are the top French wines, so I don't think Yellowrocks drinks wines that are toooo cheap. I have a Grave on tap to have with fish tonight. Don't think it's a grand cru, though.

I count at least 14 foreign words or proper names; seems kinda high for my tastes.

Jerome (anon???) @ 12:06, loved your take on "The Three Musketeers"!! And I DEFY you to put default on me for not thinking of it first...

Avg Joe, I'm with Tinbeni @3:52 on that one. I once went on a cruise and came home only to get "the flu" a couple days later. But then I got the photos back from the studio and realized it wasn't the flu - it was just the worst hangover I had ever had, because we were hammered for the entire trip! (Those pictures will never see the internet, BTW...)

Hola Everyone, Again, Barry had exactly the same trouble as I did today. Amore/Mayne and the spelling of Tutankhamun/men. Other than those two trouble areas the puzzle came together nicely today. The Ham and Rye stacks were very clever. I think they were really hard to construct.

I thought the Once and again clue was clever, as was It's cut and dried. I tried to make the answer for Smith attendee a lot harder than it was. I thought woman was too easy!!LOL. I wanted a school nickname.

Tin and Marti, I do understand the concept, but have never really wanted to test it. I did have a 3 day hangover once in my life. Can't say I ever wanted a repeat, and still can't stand even the smell of Southern Discomfort to this day.

The worst part of this bout is that I ache as badly as if I had an awful hangover, but didn't get to have any of the fun that lead up to it. Seems like a serious waste of pain to me.

Weather is still very nasty in places. Keep you heads low everyone affected. I did swap e-mails with WH earlier and he was taking all necessary precautions. Hope the kids are alright.

Thanks for checking in Seen. Hope it continues to be OK. Anyone else that follows and is in harms way, please provide updates, especially Creature! This is almost as nasty as that huge outbreak last April.

Is there anyone following the blog that is in Jackson, MS, or more specifically Brandon? That's at the SW extreme of this outbreak, but I have people there. Any report would be appreciated.

AvgJoe - I haven't had the flu since the 1980s, but I remember it like it was yesterday. It was terrible, horrible, miserable.

@Tinbeni - I am mostly a wine drinker. Last week I learned that white wine is antibacterial and that you can use it to clean your countertops. Maybe that's why I never get the flu. Probably, it's because I get my flu shot every year. Let's just pour some of that Grand CRU on the granite.

Any of you in the path of the storms, stay safe.

@HeartRx - Now I have another reason to not go on a cruise LOL!

This new preview format is bizarre to say the least. It's all over the place.

This new format is for the birds. I don't get spell check. I seldom get the edit button and when I do it doesn't work. If I don't copy my post immediately after writing it, it often disappears. I am sorry, but I go immediately to PUBLISH, edited or not.

Freond @4:20, My tasting experience with CRU has been limited to a few times with my son and DIL. Otherwise it is only window shopping. I was a teacher. My son surpassed my salary in his second or third year out of college. I buy only modest wines myself.

It's sad to hear about the rough weather some of you are experiencing. Today was really pretty here. I wish I could share it with some of you having crappy weather right now. I hope everybody stays safe and that health problems improve.

Fermatprime, I agree with you. It's frustrating when one make a thoughtful post and it appears that some people haven't taken the time to read it.

PuzzleFor a set of five whole numbers, the mean is 4, the mode is 1, and the median is 5. What are the five numbers?

Lemony- I'm disappointed. Not only did you not answer my question @ 8:08, but you more or less took my comment about the puzzle and said the same thing at 12:56. Anons are people, too!By Anonymous on Friday, March 2, 2012, Frank Virzi at 8:15 PM

CED, Wow! Thanks for that video about CW puzzle hints. Excellent! ALL stuff I didn't know! I'm going to be a speed-solver from now on. I am practically through with Saturday's and Sunday's puzzle already and am heading into next week! I'm on fire!

I know you were putting us on but I'm not quite sure about the guy who made the video...